Cherry tomatoes, wet garlic, butter beans and tomato vine-infused Honest Toil, Scarpetta style
Serves 4
Total time: 30 mins
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins
Nothing beats an early summer al fresco dinner with early-season tomatoes. Although some tomato varieties are available all year round, when the first in-season vine tomatoes hit the shelves, you can immediately know the difference: the leaves smell like summer, with notes of a childhood home, and a whiff of love. When we worked on this dipping plate, we were certain we’d want to keep the vines at play, too, so used them to make our oil even greener and a little bit textural. The tomatoes themselves are blistered in the oven, along with halves of wet garlic, which are so soft they can be eaten in whole, skin and all. Adding giant white beans, the obligatory sourdough bread and fresh basil to the plate makes it into a playful, nutritious zero waste meal to share.
Ingredients
For the tomato dipping sauce
500g (2-3 strands) Cherry or Datterini tomatoes on the vine
50ml Honest Toil extra virgin olive oil
2 heads of wet garlic, whole
A large pinch of coarse sea salt
To serve
100g cooked butter beans, from a can
50g fresh basil
A loaf of wholewheat sourdough
Honest Toil extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
Roast the tomatoes and the garlic
- Preheat the oven to 175 C.
- Remove the tomatoes from the vine, setting the green parts aside (not discarding).
- Halve the garlic heads in length and place them in a baking dish with the tomatoes, a few glugs of olive oil, and a generous pinch of coarse sea salt.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the tomatoes’ skin bursts, the garlic head is soft, and the stalk browned nicely.
Make the tomato green oil
- Boil water in a small saucepan, blanch the tomato vines for about 20 seconds, and then, using a slotted spoon, transfer them to ice-cold water.
- Once cooled, add them to a small blender container with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Blend completely until you see a bright green, woody-textured oil.
- Strain through a fine sieve and set aside to serve.
Make the dipping sauce
- When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and place ⅔ of them in a blender along with the cooking juice. Blend until silky smooth.
- Set ⅓ aside to serve as-is.
Build your Scarpetta plate
- Ladle the sauce on a wide, shallow plate and arrange the roasted garlic, peeled tomatoes, cooked butter beans, and basil as you like.
- To finish, drizzle over some Honest Toil evoo from the can and the tomato vine-infused oil.
- Sprinkle with flaky salt for added texture.
